Android Design Principles

Android User Experience team has defined guidelines for designing apps for users. Its prime objective is to give best experience to users while using various apps on Android based devices. These guidelines are developed keeping in mind that the devices could vary from big tablet PC to a small wearable watch. These are just the basic principles and as a developer or designer for app, you can apply your own ideas and innovative patterns to make the app more intuitive and obvious for users.

Three basic Design Principles are -

Enchant Me!

Simplify My Life!

Make me Amazing!

The first principle is Enchant me! While accessing any app experience must have subtle transitions from one screen to the other. Such effects create a feeling of easiness or effortlessness to operate. Usage becomes more effective and powerful.

User can be more satisfied if he can directly touch the object to perform task associated to that object. User is not required to remember which menu item to press to get the work done and which one to create new instance etc. Touching the object opens up all its associated tasks and users can quickly learn or unlearn things.

Users always love to have something different than others. You can provide customization options in your app to make it more homely for users. However, these customizations should not change any of the basic functionality of the app. With customizations to change colors, themes and icons sets users can touch up the app with their own personal choices. Showing userâs earlier preferences or choices can help the user to operate with ease. People prefer to stick to one style while using their electronic gadgets.

Simplify My Life - First step towards simplification is to use minimum words. Using short and crispy phrases instead of long sentences might help users to understand more. Long sentences are generally skipped or not read fully. Using pictures wherever possible is the best idea. Single picture speaks more than thousand words! They attract userâs attention faster than words. Minimum numbers of choices are always better for user to select from. More options often create confusion.

Showing the information in small chunks is a best practice. This enhances the grasping and user does not get overloaded with all at once. A user must know where he is at the moment inside your app and he must be able to find his way back to home screen when required. Users should not get lost in the different app screens or forms.

While upgrading the app to new version, you should be careful for not losing any of userâs data like preferences, option settings, messages or any other relevant information. If the look and feel of the screens is similar then the functionality associated with screen elements should be similar. If one screen has a button that displays menu items, then this functionality should be uniform across all screens.

Make Me Amazing! - Let users learn using your app on their own. It feels great to find out some shortcuts or features. Visual patterns or icons can make userâs life simple and so can increase life of your app. While suggesting corrections, use gentle and subtle terms instead of hard phrases. If user make any mistake, then showing error message is not enough. Your app must also suggest corrective measures or undo method to correct it. Giving feedback on actions can encourage user that he is on right track. Important function of your app must be at center-stage and should work correctly. If you can make it faster, users will prefer to use your app.

Android User Experience team has defined guidelines for designing apps for users. Its prime objective is to give best experience to users while using various apps on Android based devices. These guidelines are developed keeping in mind that the devices could vary from big tablet PC to a small wearable watch. These are just the basic principles and as a developer or designer for app, you can apply your own ideas and innovative patterns to make the app more intuitive and obvious for users.

Three basic Design Principles are -

Enchant Me!

Simplify My Life!

Make me Amazing!

The first principle is Enchant me! While accessing any app experience must have subtle transitions from one screen to the other. Such effects create a feeling of easiness or effortlessness to operate. Usage becomes more effective and powerful.

User can be more satisfied if he can directly touch the object to perform task associated to that object. User is not required to remember which menu item to press to get the work done and which one to create new instance etc. Touching the object opens up all its associated tasks and users can quickly learn or unlearn things.

Users always love to have something different than others. You can provide customization options in your app to make it more homely for users. However, these customizations should not change any of the basic functionality of the app. With customizations to change colors, themes and icons sets users can touch up the app with their own personal choices. Showing userâs earlier preferences or choices can help the user to operate with ease. People prefer to stick to one style while using their electronic gadgets.

Simplify My Life - First step towards simplification is to use minimum words. Using short and crispy phrases instead of long sentences might help users to understand more. Long sentences are generally skipped or not read fully. Using pictures wherever possible is the best idea. Single picture speaks more than thousand words! They attract userâs attention faster than words. Minimum numbers of choices are always better for user to select from. More options often create confusion.

Showing the information in small chunks is a best practice. This enhances the grasping and user does not get overloaded with all at once. A user must know where he is at the moment inside your app and he must be able to find his way back to home screen when required. Users should not get lost in the different app screens or forms.

While upgrading the app to new version, you should be careful for not losing any of userâs data like preferences, option settings, messages or any other relevant information. If the look and feel of the screens is similar then the functionality associated with screen elements should be similar. If one screen has a button that displays menu items, then this functionality should be uniform across all screens.

Make Me Amazing! - Let users learn using your app on their own. It feels great to find out some shortcuts or features. Visual patterns or icons can make userâs life simple and so can increase life of your app. While suggesting corrections, use gentle and subtle terms instead of hard phrases. If user make any mistake, then showing error message is not enough. Your app must also suggest corrective measures or undo method to correct it. Giving feedback on actions can encourage user that he is on right track. Important function of your app must be at center-stage and should work correctly. If you can make it faster, users will prefer to use your app.